Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘I Traveled Among the Unknown Men’ is the third poem in the series of The Lucy Poems by William Wordsworth, which he wrote in 1801. The poem was scheduled to be published in the Lyrical Ballads 1802 edition but it was first published in Poems, In Two Volumes in 1807. While the poem's main character is the poet’s dedicated love for Lucy and his sadness after her demise, the address to England is unique among the Lucy poems, which are otherwise addressed to an unknown audience. As a parallel to his love for Lucy, the speaker's love of England becomes one of the poem’s central themes. In a way, this is a love poem to England. Having spent time abroad, the speaker vows to commit to England. The speaker’s love of country represents an important theme. England is also important to the speaker as the home of Lucy, the beloved muse figure.
Structure of ‘I Traveled Among Unknown Men’:
It is a lyrical ballad comprised of four Quatrains or four-line stanzas with a rhyming scheme ABAB. The poet used alternating iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter for the poem. The poet used Apostrophe, Assonance, Repetition, Imagery, Symbolism, Irony, and Metaphor in this poem. The Tone and Mood of the poem are reflective and melancholic.
Themes of ‘I Traveled Among Unknown Men’:
Nostalgia and Longing
This poem’s speaker, alienated and lonely after a journey abroad, comes home to England with a deep sense of relief. He’s delighted to be in his native country again not just because he loves its familiar landscapes, but also because Lucy, a woman he adored, lived and died there.
Grief and Memory:
After returning to England, the poet finds little peace as his past memories of the places Lucy once roamed, and his grief engulfs him. The dead, this poem suggests, become part of the world in more ways than one. Just as Lucy’s body has gone back into the English soil, her memory has become part of the English atmosphere. For this speaker, consolingly, England will always have a bit of Lucy in it.
Summary of ‘I Traveled Among Unknown Men’:
Stanza 1 Lines 1-4
“I travelled among unknown men,
In lands beyond the sea;
Nor, England! did I know till then
What love I bore to thee. “
The poet begins by describing his travels among “unknown men, / In lands beyond the sea.” The "unknown men" symbolize the unfamiliar experiences and encounters that, while intriguing, cannot replace the profound connection to one's homeland. This contrast highlights the speaker's isolation in foreign lands. In the third line, the poet uses Apostrophe, addressing England. An apostrophe is a figure of speech in which a character addresses someone who is absent, dead, inanimate, or an object. The poet used ‘know’ again, to suggest that after being away he now has a better understanding of his appreciation, desire, and reliance on his homeland. The speaker concludes the stanza by stating that he did not realize his love for England until he traveled to other places.
Stanza 2 Lines 5-8
“'Tis past, that melancholy dream!
Nor will I quit thy shore
A second time; for still I seem
To love thee more and more.”
The poet goes on to describe his voyage as a melancholy dream, marking an abrupt shift in tone. He claims that his travels occurred in the past, and he does not intend to leave the shores of England a second time. He does not wish to leave again as he still feels he loves England more and more as time goes by. The speaker reiterates their remorse for leaving England as an affirmation that they’ll never “quit thy shore / A second time.”
Stanza 3 Lines 9-12
“Among thy mountains did I feel
The joy of my desire;
And she I cherished turned her wheel
Beside an English fire.”
The poet offers more detail about why England is so special for him. He specifies that he was happy in the mountains of the country where he felt the joy of his “desire.” In the second half of the stanza, it becomes clear that the object of his desire was a woman who would turn a wheel—perhaps a spinning wheel—beside the fireplace. The poem’s tone becomes nostalgic once again.
Th woman is Lucy, spinning a wheel by an “English fire.” The suggestion here is that the speaker can only find poetic inspiration when at home in England. The symbol of the spinning wheel is important. The image of Lucy spinning wool into thread evokes an ancient metaphor. In Greek mythology, a person’s life story took the form of a thread, spun and cut by the goddesses of fate. In British usage, “yarn” serves as a synonym for story. Thus, Lucy controls the thread of the speaker’s poetic output. Lucy is his poetic muse.
Stanza 4 Lines 13-16
“Thy mornings showed, thy nights concealed,
The bowers where Lucy played;
And thine too is the last green field
That Lucy's eyes surveyed.”
The poet continues to address England directly, describing the passage of time, but the subject of his expression is his unrequited love for Lucy. He explains how the morning light revealed Lucy’s cottage, while the nights concealed it. He emphasizes that Lucy played there, evoking a sense of joy in her life. He concludes the stanza and the poem by saying that England’s green fields are also the last place that Lucy saw, insinuating that she passed away there. The past tense of “played” and “surveyed” hint at the possibility that Lucy is no longer among the living. The poet ends with
a bittersweet tone that England’s green field—a symbol of life and beauty—was the last sight Lucy surveyed. His beloved therefore died looking at the vibrant countryside around her that ironically symbolized vitality. The poet’s two objects of love—Lucy and England—are intertwined. Her final gaze on England before her death seals this connection.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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